Good luck to everyone at the 2019 Innovation Challenge

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One team from Solihull gave their thoughts on why you should come and think outside of the box at the 2019 Innovation Challenge.

Lode Lane based Advanced Manufacturing Engineering (AME) Programmes Lead Engineer Gary Coleman, and Maintenance Engineer Andy Beeson, are in the final throes of rehearsing their presentations, in time to show their great work off to the rest of Jaguar Land Rover.

Thinking outside of the box has been the key to reducing the amount of maintenance required on production equipment in Trim and Final at Solihull.

Gary said: “We’ve not designed a new part or tool, but what we’ve done is think differently and changed the way we react to maintenance by involving the Associates, who use the equipment day-in day-out.”

Since the beginning of the year, Gary and Andy have been busy, training hundreds of associates across Solihull in how to spot when equipment is close to becoming faulty or not working as it should.

Andy said: “People who use their tools day-in day-out know them the best. By educating each other of potential signs of wear and tear, it means the maintenance teams can find fixes before it becomes a big problem.

“We have taken total productive maintenance (TPM) and given a more personal touch.”

Since coming up with this innovative approach to TPM, Gary and Andy have set the foundation to reduce production downtime caused by equipment failures.

The duo are looking forward to sharing their ideas with the rest of Jaguar Land Rover at the Innovation Challenge. Gary said: “We can’t wait to share our ideas with other manufacturing sites and I’m hoping to bring one or two ideas back to Solihull myself.”

Gary and Andy’s idea is one of more than 60 great innovate approaches to improvements in manufacturing being showcased at the British Motor Museum on 20 and 21 June. Are you coming along to show your support?

The Innovation Challenge will be open from 08:30 to 17:30 on 20 June, and 08:30 to 12:30 on 21 June.